… you take the opportunity to experiment. Scallops (specifically Hokkaido-originated ones) are at the top of G and I’s favorite seafood list, so it was with mixed emotions that the family was recently “gifted” with a large bag of frozen jumbo scallops. As fans of Top Chef might recall, this particular shellfish is a very different ingredient to work with frozen, and taste-wise they just can never compare to the “fresh” alternatives.
It’s not everyday that I come back home to a new kitchen gadget to try out: a shiny pressure cooker. Silit is apparently a well-known brand in Germany for cookware that likes to combine fashion with practicality. This particular model comes with a glossy outer coating and non-stick interior. The lid and handle slide nicely into place but leave just enough wiggle room to allow sufficient venting of steam. This was my first time using a pressure cooker, and I was surprised by how other than the constant hiss of steam, the rest of the pot was remarkably still. It might also be due to the fact that it is incredibly heavy, like cast iron heavy.
To try out the Silit, I made an HK-style beef soup with 牛腩, a cut of beef that benefits from a long braise, at least a few hours. With the pressure cooker on the highest setting, the meat was tender in about 25 minutes. The Silit holds heat remarkably well. Once the desired pressure is achieved, it only takes the minimal of heat to maintain cooking conditions. Clean-up was a cinch, non-stick surface and lego-like lid components. Given our penchant for stews and soups, it’s a wonder that G and I ever got along back in SF without a pressure cooker. This fella is now on my must-have kitchenware shortlist.
Posted on Lettur.com is this fine example of engineering and cooking making the usual geek circles (excerpt):
Chocolate Chip Cookies…
7. Two calcium carbonate-encapsulated avian albumen-coated protein
8. 473.2 cm3 theobroma cacao
9. 236.6 cm3 de-encapsulated legume meats (sieve size #10)
To a 2-L jacketed round reactor vessel (reactor #1) with an overall heat transfer coefficient of about 100 Btu/F-ft2-hr, add ingredients one, two and three with constant agitation. In a second 2-L reactor vessel with a radial flow impeller operating at 100 rpm, add ingredients four, five, six, and seven until the mixture is homogenous….
I’m sure this is meant to be humorous, otherwise why else list ingredients using ambiguous volume-based measurements instead of by compound weight (compensated for humidity) or molarity, or heaven forbid mix units of measurement (Kelvin and Celsius, really?). Seriously though, reading this put a smile on my face and brought me back to my ChemE days (yes our textbooks were written like this). Thanks anonymous lettur writer!
For those who might wonder what cooking is like when described by engineers, I highly highly recommend this site: Cooking for Engineers
Between G’s pregnancy and related respiratory issues, the list of foods that she should avoid is quite long and includes basic staples like chicken and dairy products. As an alternative to cow milk, she’s been drinking more soy, which has comparable levels of protein but significantly less calcium. Manufacturers of soy drinks do add vitamins, calcium, to enrich their products but also include chemical additives with unknown effects on pregnancy . So instead of buying our soy milk at the store, we’ve been enjoying it homemade courtesy of our family friend H.
The home version is way better than any store bought variety and really only takes about an hour of actual labor.
Here’s what you’ll need (makes approx 4-5 litres of soy milk):
A quick search for “chawanmushi recipes” yields thousands of results that have one thing in common: vague cooking instructions. The actual recipes themselves are more or less the same: 3 parts dashi (with mirin/soy sauce) to 1 part beaten egg, plus additional ingredients. Steaming the mixture however, is an entirely different matter. Most of the recipes found on the first page have vague descriptions, like steam for 10-12 minutes on medium heat. One helpful recipe explains that low heat is important for creating silky smooth chawanmushi (doesn’t overcook, less bubbles). The problem is that terms like medium heat, or test with toothpick means plenty of trial and error. Continue reading
Continuing from part I on spherification, above is an example of reverse spherification that doesn’t take a lot of effort: multi-colored yogurt drink spheres.
Here’s what you’ll need:
For the Bath
Take an immersion blender and thoroughly mix the sodium alginate with the distilled water. Tap water isn’t recommended as your local supply of water may already contain trace amounts of calcium that will react with the sodium alginate. Let the bath sit for awhile for the air bubbles to disappear. Note that the bath is much thicker than water.
Inspired by a conversation last evening with the always entertaining T & A, I did a bit of follow-up research on a topic near and dear: sous-vide and meat. A mentioned that a chef had said that searing helps to trap juices and improves flavor when cooking with sous-vide. It’s a widely debunked myth that searing hels to seal in moisture. In fact, experiments show the opposite to be true. Furthermore, one of the advantages of sous-vide is that it can cook proteins at the optimal temperature to help retain most of its juices, thus making searing for this purpose redundant.
What I did wonder however, was whether searing first before sous-vide had any benefit to the flavor. Afterall, the real reason to sear meat is to give it that wonderful caramelized crust and flavor (via the Maillard reaction). Fortunately, thanks to the internet and Serious Eats, my question had already been answered. In short, no. Searing, pre-cooking, has no noticeable impact on the flavor of the meat, and since you’ll want to sear it after the sous-vide, there’s doubly no reason to do the same thing twice.
And there you have it – searing is still great, but you should just do it at the end.
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Additional resources on sous-vide:
Spherification is a technique used for encapsulating liquids within a jelly-like outer shell, made famous by Ferrara Adria (El Bulli). It has since found its way into common use in modern cuisine and is great for adding a nice twist to any dish. Caviar (or salmon roe), is probably the best comparable in sensation- a slightly chewy sphere that explodes flavor and liquid.
The chemistry that makes spherification possible is pretty straightforward: when a solution containing sodium alginate comes into contact with a solution containing calcium a layer of calcium alginate immediately begins to form. This membrane is water insoluble and effectively traps liquid within.
Our kid must’ve been inspired by a recent Top Chef episode as G suddenly had a craving for a tuna melt with tomato soup. Since she’s not allowed to have tuna, I substituted ham. It’s funny, for someone who lives to eat, G hasn’t really had any cravings. I’m just glad that there was a bit of it tonight, accompanied by some healthy kicks by Junior.
If you’ve eaten non-instant ramen, chances are you’ve also had the oh-so delicious soft boiled egg. The egg whites are fully cooked, but the yolk retains a molten consistency. As it turns out, making these types of eggs is not a trivial feat. Why? Because egg yolks and whites cook at very different temperatures – 64 °C and 80 °C respectively. In other words, the egg white has to be cooked to a much higher temperature than the yolk. To complicate matters further, egg sizes vary and the yolk doesn’t sit perfectly in the center…
